Microbial Cell Surface Hydrophobicity

... an important milestone in the field of microbial adhesion and should be indispensable to all workers in that discipline Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology.

Despite the recent advances in medical treatment, patients suffering from wounds such as burns or receiving surgical implants are still in great danger of infection. This has called attention to the need for better understanding of infections at the molecular level. Scientists from various disciplines summarize our knowledge today and investigate how methods to avoid wound and biomaterial-associated infections can be developed. These methods include new antibiotics, surgical strategies to prevent infection, and ways to stimulate the immune system and the tissue healing process. Specific topics include: the definition of microbial cell surface determinants important for adhesion to graft; the definition of extracellular bacterial enzymes and toxins involved in tissue breakdown and the local spread of infection; the prevention of the systemic spreading of infection with immunoglobulins and antibiotics; and the problem of multiple antibiotic resistance in most versatile pathogens.

Study of the phenomena of bacterial adhesion to surfaces has accelerated considerably over the past 10 to 15 years. During this period, microbiologists have become increasingly aware that attachment to a substratum influences considerably the activities and structures of microbial cells. Moreover, in many cases attached communities of cells have important effects on their substratum and the surrounding environment. Such phenomena are now known to be important in plant and animal hosts, water and soil ecosystems, and man-made structures and industrial processes. Much work on microbial adhesion in the early 1970s was descriptive. Those studies were important for detecting and describing the phenomena of bacterial adhesion to substrata in various environments; the findings have been presented in numerous recently published, excellent books and reviews. In some studies, attempts were made to elucidate some funda mental principles controlling adhesion processes in different environments containing a variety of microorganisms. Common threads have been observed occasionally in different studies. Taken as a whole, however, the information has revealed that many disparate factors are involved in adhesion processes. Whether a particular microorganism can adhere to a certain substratum depends on the properties of the microbial strain itself and on charac teristics of the substratum and of the environment.

This book presents an accessible and comprehensive survey of recent advances in the understanding of the structure and properties of microbial cell surfaces. Gathering leading experts in the field, it is the first book to cover the fundamental knowledge of microbial cell surfaces at the nanometre-scale resolution that is now provided by various scanning probe microscopy techniques (SPM). The advent of SPM has recently opened up a wide range of novel and fascinating applications for biological research. The book presents the most recent advances in the application of SPM techniques to study cell surfaces. It is a useful guide for researchers that are seeking to tap the power and scope of this technology to further their own work on cell surface structure and properties. The book also provides the reader with a realistic appreciation of the advantages and limitations of the SPM techniques, as well as the potential of these techniques to advance our understanding of biological systems to a new level.

This work on the bacteria cell surface covers such topics as the peptidoglycan layer; walls of gram-positive bacteria; and the envelope of gram-negative bacteria. It should be of interest to microbiologists.